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2026 Western States 100 Women's Race Preview · Let's Talk Trail Running

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Let's Talk Throwing.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is your host,
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Robert Prosser,
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: and it is the most wonderful time of the year, the last weekend in June.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Merry Statesmas, everyone.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Today we are going to talk about the great Western States 100,
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: and most specifically the women's field for the Western States 100.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Possibly the peak, maybe the highlight of the trail running year.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Either that or UTMB occasionally worlds every other year.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: But this being a US based podcast and the media space and trail running being largely US
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Focused,
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's safe to say that this is one of the biggest weekends of the year,
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: not only for Western States,
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: honestly, but, you know, even for just trail running in general.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: We've got Western States, Labarado 120K, Mont Blanc Marathon and Mont Blanc 90K.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it is like a freaking packed weekend to say the least and is definitely one of
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: the weekends that I look forward to the most every single year.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: On the personal side of things, it's been a busy week.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I got to race San Juan Solstice this past weekend out in Lake City, Colorado.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And San Juan Solstice is just one of those races that you hear amazing performances.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever the other peak is that I can't think of right now.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sunshine.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so anyways, yeah, it's just on the other side of the San Juans from those peaks.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it is no less beautiful than the San Juans that Hard Rock goes through.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing race, amazing place, amazing community.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Just all the reasons I love trail running.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, the town of Lake City is 500 residents, give or take, year-round.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I think they said they have 300 to 400 volunteers for the race.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: The city kind of balloons in the summertime with more people coming from,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: really, Texas, a lot of them.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: But just the whole community shows out volunteers.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: All the money from the race goes back into the community,
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: both the EMS program there and also local scholarships to fund
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrun
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrux
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Came back and finished almost 10 hours later.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then had Caitlin out there crewing me, Barkley, my pup, out there with me as well.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then came back for the award ceremony and the delicious breakfast the next day.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So San Juan Solstice, sorry to start off this podcast.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Personal updates, just super excited to be back trail racing.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: After San Juan Solstice, I've got Never Summer 100K coming up.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then after that, I've got Run Rabbit Run 50-Miler.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just excited to be back in the racing,
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: in the trail running community, back racing, and just back doing the things I love.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that is the latest on...
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robux
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think I want to do Montblanc Marathon and then potentially if I get out either
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: the 90K, I think for 90K and Labarado I might just give my picks.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: So Montblanc Marathon I think is going to be
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: the most densely competitive race that's not Western States this weekend.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then Montblanc Marathon and Labarado have some good storylines,
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: but the depth is on the marathon distance race.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll probably talk about those as well.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, Happy Statesmas everyone.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Western States Endurance Run goes from Tahoe to Auburn,
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: so starts in Palisades Resort and then goes all the way to the town of Auburn,
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: California at the Placer High Track.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oldest continuously run 100 mile race, if I'm not mistaken.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're on 50...
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say it was 1972 off the top of my head.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we're at 50 plus years.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: basically just has been the most competitive 100 in America more or less
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: since it started.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And probably one of the best known 100 mile races in the world outside of maybe UTMB and...
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: U-Team B for 100 Mile Races
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Robrux
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Realize Competition Index, RCI,
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: which is basically a stat that he created to show the competitive depth that it took
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: to finish a certain result in a field.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Western States for both 5 deep and 10 deep was the
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: The only long race that was deeper than it was CCC and Black Canyon.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: So essentially,
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: more or less the sixth deepest race in the world,
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: if we're talking like 10 deep,
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: which is kind of hard to believe because it felt like it was deeper than that.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: But that just kind of shows you how deeply competitive some
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: of these sub-ultra distances like Sierra Zanal, like
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sierras and All is really the main one,
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: but then 50K distance OCC and 100K distance CCC as well.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's Western States.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I got some storylines that I
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Females and 2025, four international men and seven females.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we have not had a year on the women's side with fewer
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: than four international top 10 females since 2021.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't even check 2019.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was just going back.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it's possible that was the case as well.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: So this is something that's very prevalent and I would be very surprised
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: to see fewer than five international women in the top five.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: If we look at last year's results, Abby Hall took the win in a time of 1637.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Fu Zhao Shang took second place, 1647.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Marion Hogan, third place, 1650.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Eden Nielsen, 17 hours for fourth.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Fiona Pascal, 1721 for fifth.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hau Ha, sixth place in 1723.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hannah Allgood, seventh, 1739.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Kaitlyn Fielder, eighth in 1747.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Keely Henniger, ninth in 1757.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: And tenth place, rounding out the top ten, Emily Hallgood, 1811.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we're seeing all those women except for Ida Nielsen and Keely Henniger return this year.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that's very, very exciting.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And...
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So and then another thing I want to add is four
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: of those top ten last year were Western States debutantes.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So let's keep that consideration.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: We had seven international athletes and four debutantes.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So storylines I want to talk about on the women's side.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Will women get a top 10 overall finisher,
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: and what would it take for a woman finisher to go top 10 in this field?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Spoiler, I don't think we're going to get a top 10 overall finisher.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think it would take a hotter year,
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: but that's something that we will definitely talk about and talk about females
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: who could potentially break that top 10 overall barrier.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Next question I have for under the storyline side is,
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: is Martina a legitimate contender for the win on her second attempt here?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Next storyline I have for a question is, can Abby Hall repeat after a statement went last year?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Another storyline,
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: does Jen Lichter pull an Adam Peter God,
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: so Adam Peterman, and go double wins on her 100K and 100-mile debuts?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: We know she set the course record in a blazing fast sub-eight hours at Black Canyon 100K.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was her 100K debut this spring,
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: and this is going to be her 100-mile debut,
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: and it kind of feels reminiscent of Adam Peterman doing the exact same thing
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: in Canons and Western in 2022.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Next storyline on the female side,
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: how healthy is Ingviel Kasperson coming into this race and how much can she approve
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: on her Blazing Fast 1650 debut from 2024?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Next storyline I identified is can Riley Brady figure out their stomach issues
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: and what is their ceiling if Riley does figure out stomach issues
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: that have been plaguing them?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So in general, picking for this race, it feels like picking running shoes for a vacation.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: You want to bring every single pair,
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: but there's no way you could possibly fit them all unless you want to pay hundreds
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: of dollars in luggage fee.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's what picking for the women's race feels like in my opinion.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's only 10 slots, but it feels like there's 15 names that I want to put in there.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Some other things I want to point out,
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: biggest advantages based off sponsorships,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: because I do think that you are at a unique advantage
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: or disadvantage based off your sponsorship.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: What I kind of like to point to is last year,
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Peter Frano going top 10,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: he got ninth overall with a shoe sponsor like Scarpa,
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: who has essentially no footprint at Western States.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it was before he was sponsored by Precision Fuel and Hydration.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrux
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some rules I want to point out for making picks for Western States after
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: a couple years of doing this.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: I can't say I've ever been,
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've ever been in the top 10,
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: but usually 2,000 to 3,000 people pick for Western, so it's pretty damn tough.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think top 10% of all the picking is probably a pretty good metric for having
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: a good day at Western.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: But some rules,
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really wise not to change your picks based off interviews
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: that you hear pre-race unless there's new injury information that comes out
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: or obviously if drops happen.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Other things I want to point out in the women's field,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think we have a couple of slept-on athletes,
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: so I want to point out some of the most slept-on athletes.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, for me,
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: I've got,
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I guess,
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: technically three international,
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: but Lottie kind of feels, you know, a little bit either way.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't even know if I'd consider a slept-on,
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: because I feel like Finn and Singletrack are really kind of two
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: in her horn right now,
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: but most slept-on athletes right now, I have Hao Ha Ti, the Vietnamese athlete.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Lottie Brinks, Hannah Allgood, and Fiona Pascal.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then I also have a list of things that would surprise me the most in this field.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I've kind of just started to think it out.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to try to think it out a little bit more in depth for the men's side as well.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Things that would surprise me most on this woman's side of the field.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, to be perfectly clear,
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that all of them will podium,
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: but I'm just saying that if those three finish the race,
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: it's hard for me not to see them
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's entirely possible that Martina comes out hot again and doesn't stick the landing.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then it is Jen's debut 100-mile race.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, a lot of things can happen and things can go wrong.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And there's an extra 38 miles there that she doesn't know what it's like to run in.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I think Fujial is probably the safest out of those picks.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll talk more about her in the individual picks.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Other things that would surprise me the most,
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: I would be very surprised if Hannah Allgood is not inside the top 10.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I would also be very surprised if fewer than five international women
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: in this field are in the top ten.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: So three of the last four years we've had five or more international women.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about some categories on the women's side of the race.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of broke this race down and I'm going to do it on the men's side as well.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of broke this down into the big dogs.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the people that I think can win and if they finish are very much
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have a new list of people that have never raced Western,
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: so Western States debutants.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I've kind of broken those down into two different lists.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've got never raced Western and competing for a win.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then I've got never raced Western and competing for a top 10.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: So starting off, big dogs.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: I've got three names in the big dog category.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've got Jen Lichter, Abby Hall, and Fu Zhao Zhang.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: So like I said, these are people that I think are having a legitimate shot at the win.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Starting off with Jen Lichter, Nike ACG athlete, longtime North Face athlete.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Before that,
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Jen Lichter is on a heater of a winning streak going all the way back
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: to Kanan's 50K last year, which she DNF'd.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And even that, the race before Kanan's 50K, she won.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: So she's pretty much on a more or less year-and-a-half heater
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: where she's got nothing but wins, minus one DNF.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So those wins include Trans Grand Canary Marathon,
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Broken Arrow 46K,
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: which I think was course record,
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: both Trans Grand Canary Marathon and 46K,
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Spigo 50K winning course record,
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Black Cannon 100K win and course record and top 10 overall,
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Gorge 50K win and course record over Mayo Yao,
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: So despite this being Jed Lichter's debut,
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: it feels eerily similar,
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: as I mentioned earlier,
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: to how Adam Peterman was coming into 2022 Western States that year.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: He was on a heater,
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: he had pretty much an unbeaten streak going for a good chunk of time,
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: and all the momentum
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Rob
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Robruns.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Robruns.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Robruns.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Jen's 1%-inch of her 17 results is 65%.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, two-thirds of the races that she enters, she wins.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of very, very competitive races on there.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas I think Abby Hall's is around 50%.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, excuse me, 34% category wins.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about Abby Hall now.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: So Abby Hall,
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: the returning champ,
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: she's put in an insane block,
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: tons of four plus hour runs,
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: five plus hour runs, six plus hour runs, even seven plus hour runs.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: She's looking as confident as ever,
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: relaxed, doesn't feel like she has something to prove coming back from injury.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: She is the reigning Western State champ.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: She proved herself last year she'd win this race.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said,
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: the biggest thing that I have against Abby and Abby repeating is
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: that I personally feel like she doesn't win much, but free trail analytics kind of
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robbed
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think that winning is a skill,
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: and I think that some other people in the women's field have more of a winning habit
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: than Abby Hall.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete we'll talk about is Fu Zhaozhang.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Chinese athlete transferred from Hoka to Arcteryx recently,
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: and it's very interesting to see that move for the Chinese athlete.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like that move would work against her for a goal like Western States,
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: quite frankly, both from a gear and a race support perspective.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think...
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: I believe I've heard Debo or Finn,
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say it was Debo,
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: say that she considers herself a mountaineer and has some big mountain objectives.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: In that case, Arcteryx makes sense.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to do mountaineering, there's no better gear than Arcteryx.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I just don't see a world in which I would rather wear their new race shoe, the Cylon 2.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: over Hoka Rocket X Trail,
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: which I'm pretty sure is what she wore last year and is pretty much
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: a shoe verbatim designed for Western States.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So Fujiao is coming
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Robruns.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Robruns.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Robruns.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Robruns.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Robruns.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: so she just races a lot and she also wins a lot and so it's tough to count her out
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: and then her only two results at Western States were
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Second place in 2024,
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: the fastest debut ever,
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: 16 hours, 20 minutes, and the second place last year in 1647.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it feels like she's got this race figured out.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like she really knows how to run well here.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest caveats that I would have is how does the new sponsorship
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: and shoe affect both her support at the race and also just mechanical advantage
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: or disadvantage racing in a shoe that's not really as Western States friendly.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, next category we're moving on to.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Great times at this race at Western States, but they still have something to prove here.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: And this is kind of a big list.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to include Marion Hogan,
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Fiona Pascal, Hannah Allgood, Ingvild Casperson, Caitlin Field
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Or they do have a chip on their shoulder.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're coming back with something to prove.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's their second Western States for a lot of them.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them their third.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: And they feel like they could do better because Western States has a learning curve
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: and it's a very,
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: very specific race to train for and also just to get crewing dialed and cooling die
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: and all this different stuff.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: So first one was a great time, but something to prove here is going to be Marianne Hogan.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: She is coming in,
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: French-Canadian athlete,
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Salomon athlete, despite two third-place finishes in her races at Western States.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think Marianne's a gamer and feels like she's left time on the table in both races.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Besides Fu Xiaoxing,
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: or maybe including Fu Xiaoxing,
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: might she be at the biggest disadvantage shoe sponsorship-wise for this course,
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: being sponsored by Salomon, and them not really having
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Marion Hogan's gotta be one of the toughest racers in this field.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: We saw her puke pretty early in the race and just kind of rally like it was nothing.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we've also seen her run, you know, to a podium at UTMB with a broken thumb.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think her first Western, she was running with a messed up hip if I'm not mistaken.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah,
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Marianne Gamer,
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: pretty sure she ran most of last year's race in the S-Lab Pulsar 4,
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: which is like their sub-ultra racer.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good shoe,
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: but it's not a ton of foam,
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: not a ton of energy return,
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: and it's such a long course for running in such a lightweight shoe.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm curious if she'll be wearing that again or if she's going to be wearing one
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: of those big chunky Solomon prototypes that we saw on their athletes' feet
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: at training camp this spring.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete we're going to talk about is Fiona Pascal, British athlete, sister of Beth Pascal.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: So she's got winning Western States blood in her veins.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: From what I understand,
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Fiona's going through a bit of an injury in the spring leading up,
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: which limited her downhill running, but she was still running uphill.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was very,
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: very impressed with Fiona's fifth place finish last year in her debut in 1721
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: at her first Western States.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, like I said,
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: she is got the blood of a Western States champion,
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: kind of running through her veins,
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: could possibly be the first sibling couple ever to win Western.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think that, I think Fiona is relatively newer to trail racing.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at her results on free trail, her first result only dates back to 2020.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: But realistically, she only had one race in a year until 2023.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it seems like she's really only started racing
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: More than once a year in 2023.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: So less than, you know, basically three full years of trail racing under her belt.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I think she has lots of room for growth, a very high ceiling.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in my opinion, as I mentioned earlier, Western States last year was kind of her
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: No, not as I mentioned earlier,
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: but Western States last year was Fiona's kind of first true international test,
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: aside from dipping her toes into Worlds Long Trail in 2023,
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: but not quite the same depth in that field as the most recent Worlds.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: She did DNF at UTMB in 2024.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: So last year was kind of like her breakout result on a deep field and kind
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: of getting used to running in fields that dense.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think that Fiona Pascal has a really big ceiling and I could see her continue
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: to raise it at this year's Western States.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely going to be keeping an eye out for her and think that she could really improve.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is none other than Hannah Allgood,
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Didis Tarek's athlete, my neighbor in Colorado Springs, and also my friend.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Hannah and Emily Hallgood feel like they're being the least talked about out of all
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: the returning field eight
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Women in the returning from last year's top 10.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's really just because both of them have kind
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: of been quietly grinding away in our...
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I imagine they've got to love having all the pressure kind of off them
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: because it feels like not really anyone's talking about them.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hannah debuted her Western States last year.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: First Western, first 100-miler, seventh place, and a very fast 1739.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hanna has explicitly stated that there is a huge learning curve at Western States
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: and that she left a lot of time on the table with it being her first Western
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: and first 100 miler.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: So she's been laser focused on the entire year.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Western States has been the goal even since I think she raced it last year.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Her only tune-up race was Lake Sonoma 50k, which was not a deep field.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: She did take the win.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's kind of why
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: The media and just people in general are not talking about her,
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: just kind of that recency bias or lack thereof.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I think she is pretty much as good of a lock as Jan Jones on the men's side.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think both of them are going to be in the top ten.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Hannah does everything right.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: She just quietly puts in the work day after day.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's easy to sleep on her, but hard to remember how good she is.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, she's fast enough to win Cannes 50K.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: The last time that Jen liked her loss, it was two Hannah Allgood at Cannes 50K.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Jen had a TNF because of stomach issues, but Hannah won the race.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: So she is fast.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: And even though she likes racing mountain races,
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: she has speed to do really, really well here at Western States.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Engvild Kasperson.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think that Engvild and Martina Malarnasik are probably the...
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: are definitely getting the most European hype on the female side.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people are putting a lot of stock in Yngville's 16-hour and 15-minute debut
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: in 2024, which was blazing fast.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: It got her fifth place.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe it makes her the third fastest Western States debut on the female side
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: behind Fu Zhao Zhang's 16-20 in 2024 and Katie Scheid's 16 hours and 43 minutes
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: in 2023.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: So she's got the third fastest debut at Western from what I can tell.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Ingvild,
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: last year she did a little bit more mountainous trail races,
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: but had kind of less success than her 2023 and 2024 years.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: So last year she had DNFs at CCC and Trans-Grand Canaria,
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: and then she got second at Lavaradio ADK behind
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Anna Tarasova, who ran a great race.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a bad season by any means,
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: but it was a come down from her 2024 season when she got that third fastest debut
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: at Western in fifth place.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then 2023,
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: she blasted the field to a win at CCC,
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: winning by,
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say,
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: over 30 minutes, if I remember correctly, to second place Emily Hogghead.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where she got her golden ticket and punched it for the 2024 Western.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Ingvild has the leg speed to crush at Western and it's shown both in her CCC win and
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: in other shorter speedier races from earlier in her career when she was more of
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: a skyrunning specialist.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: She
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: is the only one in this field not named Killian Jornay.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: After all, that has both won Zagama and has the range to also win at Western States.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so Ingvild, I think, is being appropriately hyped.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think people are expecting big things from her.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that if we're picking between the top European athletes,
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: people are leaning probably somewhere between Ingvild and Martina.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: They have the most hype coming into the race.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is Kaylin Fielder,
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Kiwi athlete for Adidas Tareks,
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: coming off a season last year where she was injured for a lot of it.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think a couple of different injuries plagued her throughout the year,
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: but she still managed to pull off an eighth place here in Western in 17 hours,
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: 47 minutes.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that was on not a full block.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: And she also went on to win a relatively not deep field at Tom Plie compared to history.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh,
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Caitlin Fielder has started off the season right with a battle in her hometown race,
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: or at least her home country race, uh,
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: in New Zealand at Tarawera, which, uh,
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: she went to battle with Ruth Croft,
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: finishing just about four minutes behind Ruth Croft,
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: and they both, uh, didn't need tickets.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Ruth passed on hers,
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: and Caitlin did not need one,
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: which allowed the tickets to roll down to,
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: uh, Hanoka, Akamara, and, uh, Holly Ranson as well.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: So Akiyama, excuse me.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said,
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think Caitlin Fielder is also kind of in that category with Ingvild
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: and even Martina.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Caitlin's extremely speedy and talented as a runner.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: She can routinely throw down in sub-ultra races.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: She's got top tens in races like OCC,
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sierras and All, Montblock Marathon, and Zagama she finished checking out as well.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: So Caitlin,
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think,
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: will also be underrated and could easily crack a top five here if it is her day out
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: of the course.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is Emily Hallgood.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: She's in the camp with Hannah,
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: like I mentioned earlier,
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: where people are kind of sleeping on her and overlooking her.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think largely just because of her mostly quiet spring.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: She did race Lake Sonoma 100K and she finished second behind Fiona Pascal by
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: about 18 minutes in the 100K.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Emily Hallgood followed up a rough day at Western States last year,
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: but she still managed to find a way in the top ten,
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: so she's going for her sixth consecutive top ten finish.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: She followed up her Western States finish last year with a Spirit Quest at UTMB.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: If I remember correctly,
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robbed
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Her highest finish at Western is 4th place in 2024 in that 1648.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: She's got two 5th place finishes, one 7th place and then a 10th place finish last year.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: Emily is as consistent as it gets and it feels like recency bias to be betting against her.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that's Emily Hoghead.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is Hao Ha T.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: Most Western people won't realize this,
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: or Western fans, but Hao Ha is on a heater coming into Western states.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: She has won her last six races she has run,
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: which included both Ultra Trail Hong Kong 100K and UTMB Chiang Mai 100K.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: along with Saigu 105K, which is a very competitive Chinese race.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we know that how hot crushes it in hot races being from Vietnam and racing a ton in Asia.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: She is the two-time fourth-place finisher at CCC as well,
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: which translates to Western States success.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: We know we see a lot of people that do well at CCC
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: and get tickets there also do well at Western.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: And she's coming off of her sixth-place finish.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sixth-place finish in 1723 last year.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so next category we have, we have the category of yet to have a good race here.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: That category includes Martina Malarczyk,
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Lottie Brinks, Riley Brady, Lauren Piritz, and Tara Dower.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: So starting off with Martina Milarnczyk, I was tempted to put her in the big dog category.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: I very much think Martina has the possibility to win.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know if I think for sure she's going to finish the race, kind of like last year.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: Martina,
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: this is going to be her 100th Polish athlete from Hoka,
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: had that breakout with a second at CCC two years ago,
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: which got her into this Western,
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: and then had a dominant CCC win in probably the deepest race last year at CCC,
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: the 100-mile UTMB distance, 100K UTMB distance.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: So this is still Martina's 100-mile debut
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: because she did not finish her 100-miler last year at Western States.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Martina is a ballerina turned trail runner.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: She did a little bit of triathlete in between then,
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: but really she was a ballerina from what I understand.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: She was dealing with a bit of an Achilles injury in the spring
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: from what I can gather on her Instagram, but she seems to
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: have fully participated in Hoka Team Camp and have bounced back from the injury.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know the pros from what Finn Melanson says are hyping her up like mad.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: I got to think she's learned from her mistakes last year where she came out blazing hot.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: She was leading.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was looking at the Iron Farr recap.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: She was leading as late as mile 50.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robur
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: But if she got overheated,
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: you got to think that she learned from her cooling and fueling mistakes
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: and is ready.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: She's got that Hocus sponsorship, which I think really favors her well here.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think she's a precision fuel and hydration athlete, I'm pretty sure as well.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't expect Martinez
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is also a friend of mine from Boise,
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Lottie Brinks Hoka athlete, also precision fuel and hydration athlete.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like a totally different Lottie Brinks coming into Western States
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: than raced here last time.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: And she's super excited to race Western States this year It was her plan to race
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: into Western at CCC the end of this year But basically it just got bumped up a year
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: because Sylvia Nordsgar pulled out for her pregnancy deferral And
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: so it just bumped up her timeline and got her back in a year earlier
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: in this super duper deep field And that win at Gorge also made it exciting to think
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: about what Lottie can do on this course
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete,
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: I would have said a favorite in this field last year and was coming off
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: of some very high expectations but kind of ran a disappointing race.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about none other than Riley Brady,
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: the Nike ACG athlete who got their ticket last year
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: or this year at Canyons 100K at the last minute in the end of April with a good win at Canyons.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: Riley has yet to figure it out at Western States.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: They've got two DNFs in both their attempts but bounced back last year and took
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: the win at Run Rabbit Run in September after the disappointing Western.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: Riley tried to get the ticket at their favorite race Black Canyon in
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: the spring this February but had a disappointing day and only finished ninth
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: at Black Canyon where they had the course record the year before.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: Riley went on to have another rough day.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: They called to 50K out in the heat.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very hot day out there and finished 11th place.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then Riley's kind of bounced back since then.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Third place at Gorge 30K,
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: which is a shorter distance than we're used to seeing Riley racing,
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: and a win at Canyon's 100K.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: You like to think that Western is a course that is pure Riley
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: and suits Riley's strengths the most,
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: but success has really eluded Riley out at Western.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't really been able to figure out their stomach issues here,
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: and both races have been pretty disappointing, ending with DNFs.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: Last two athletes to talk about in that yet-to-have-a-go-to-race-here category,
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: Lauren Puritz got the ticket when it rolled down to her fifth place
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: at Chianti this spring and was also the top American female in UTMB last year,
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: the eighth-place finish.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's highly likely that Lauren's going to finish the race.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's highly likely that Lauren will end up somewhere in the 10th
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: through 15th range, which will get you points if you pick her, Lauren.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I think I have a hard time seeing her crack the top 10 unless there's a lot
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: of attrition in the field.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete,
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: yet to have a good day here,
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: is Tara Dower,
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: the ultra athlete,
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: the overall FKT record holder for the Appalachian Trail,
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: so the fastest time ever recorded on the Appalachian Trail, either male or female.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Tara is looking for redemption here.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of hype came in last year after Tara got second at Black Cannon 100K in
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: a blazing fast time under the course record.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately got sick the week of Western and that caused her to DNF
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: at Western,
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: which was really disappointing because it felt like she could run a really,
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: really fast debut at Western.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so expectations were high.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Tara's coming off of another good spring where she has raced some fast races,
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: including third place at Gorge Waterfalls, 50K, just behind Yao Yao and Jen Lichter.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: Third place at Black Cannon,
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: 100K Ultra, 100K,
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: and a time even faster than her time last year,
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: but only behind Anne Flower and Jen Lichter.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then...
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: Western and then two weeks raced Hard Walk.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: So she shrank for both of them at the same time.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think if anyone can do that, it's Tara.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the only thing.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if mentally if you're only halfway focused or if you have another race
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: in your mind coming up after Western States.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's the only thing that makes me a little bit nervous.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: Never Waste Western category.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: We've got
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Competing for a win,
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Jen Lichter,
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: we already talked about her and all the reasons why she could very well win here.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the Never Race Western but Competing for a Top 10,
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a lot more names, including... Why aren't you scrolling?
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: One second.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so Never Race Western but competing for a top 10.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: We've got Molly Seidel,
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: Eleni Madarisi, Addie Bracey, Sarah Humble, Holly Ranson, and Hanoka Akiyama.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: So,
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: Molly's probably the biggest out of this category and we saw Molly get her tickets
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: at Black Cannon 100k when it rolled down.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: What to say about Molly?
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think Molly is going to race smart here.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see Molly racing for the win.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: I see Molly racing more like how she did at Black Canyon 100K.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's very possible that Molly goes top 10.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I could see Molly being kind of
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: 7th place at Black Canyon 100K.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: Tons of leg speed.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: Longest race so far is at Canyons in 10 hours and 29 minutes.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: Still got 7 hours more to finish Western States,
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: but you got to think that she's got a good team with Hoka.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just recently sponsored lots of excitement and youth and some level of naivete
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: that can help you in a 100-mile race.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: Last four people to talk about that have never raced Western,
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: Addie Bracey got her golden ticket at Javelina rolled down
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: with her third place finish, excuse me.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think she's been trying to get into Western for quite some time now.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just now getting into Western after a quite prolific and long
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, excuse me.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: She did race Western once in 2021 in DNF.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: So has been probably trying to get back since then and just has not quite made the cut.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully looking to learn.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: So excuse me, I'm wrong.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: Addie Bracey has raised Western and has DNF'd and is looking for redemption.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then we've got Sarah Humble, Salt Lake City native, got her ticket at Canyons 100K.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: and got fourth place overall at that Canyons field, 18th at Black Canyon.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: She also had a fifth place at Ultra Trail Cape Town last year,
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: which is some good international racing experience with some good, deeper fields.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: So got to be excited with Sarah Humble and kind of the progress that she's made.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: Being coached by Jimmy Elam,
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jimmy definitely knows how to race at 100-mile races and is probably giving her lots
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: of good advice.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then the two...
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: Athletes coming from the Tarawara field,
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: Holly Ranson, Kiwi,
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: or excuse me,
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: she's Aussie,
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: and coming off that third place at,
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: you know, fourth place, excuse me, at Tarawara, but the ticket rolled down.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: She also raced her third place at Ultra Trail Australia 50K.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: She does not have a 100-mile race under her belt, but has had some good results at 100Ks.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is definitely going to be the most competitive field she's ever lined up in,
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: so curious to see how she does there.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then the other athlete,
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: Hanoka Akiyama from Japan,
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: another Hoka athlete,
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: what's too helpful,
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: coming off a win at Mount Fuji 40K and got the third place at TerraWare 102K
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: to get her ticket.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: She also raced World's Long Trail to 12th place last year,
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: which is an impressive finish in a very, very deep field.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: So she has experience with some deep fields as well, and then has lots of results in Japan.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: So she could play a little bit of a spoiler,
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: a good time at Worlds Long Trail in a very competitive field.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't going to be the most competitive race that she's ever raced,
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: because Worlds Long Trail was actually really, really competitive last year as well.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: But not as many results.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see, longest result I'm seeing on Fantasy
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: 13 hours and 15 minutes.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's close.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, excuse me.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: She had a 24-hour race in 2018,
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: but basically hasn't raced anything longer than 13 hours and 15 minutes,
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: and that was last year.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Hinoka Akiyama.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: So with all that being said,
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: now we're going to get into the best part of the show where we make our picks.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: So usual caveats, I'm very liable to change this.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: We still have got three days and seven hours and 41 minutes.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Rob
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: 10-1 and then I'll also talk about people that I'm considering swapping in
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: as well 10th place Hannah Allgood from Colorado Springs 9th place Lottie Brinks
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: from Boise,
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: Idaho slash Germany 8th place Fiona Pascal from Great Britain 7th place Tara Dower
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_00: Sixth place, Hao Ha Ti.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth place, Marianne Hogan.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth place, Abby Hall.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is going to leave our podium.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go third place, Engveld Kasperson.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: Second place, Fu Zhao Zhang.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: And first place, Jen Lichter with her win in her 100-miler debut.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm liable to swap these up, but I think Jen...
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: is a winner.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think she's a gamer.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think that it's not very surprising if we see her win her 100-mile debut.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: Other placements,
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: Tara Dower I had higher,
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: but I was a little bit concerned just with the dual focus on both Western
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: and Hard Rock.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: How Hot T I think is going to be a sleeper pick that a lot of people are going to leave out.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I think she is poised to do really well here.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: She runs well in hot races.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think she, in my mind, is kind of like the Vietnamese Sunmaya Buddha.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think they're both gamers.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think they both win.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that they both are really, really competitive.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's entirely possible I have Lottie and Hannah too low right now,
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: but it's just tough when you only have so many people to pick.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see Abby Hall repeating for the reasons that I stated before.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think Abby is an amazing raiser.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think that she's probably better prepared for this race than anyone.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: and I think I wouldn't be surprised if she wins,
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: but I think that last year the win felt very much up for grabs
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: and it felt like there was no clear favorite.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: This year you could argue that it feels similar and that maybe Abby is the favorite
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: as the returning champion,
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: but I really think I feel like Jen or even Martina,
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: who I notably have outside of this top 10, I think that you could argue Jen
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: or Martina or maybe even Ingvild or some favorites.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not Ingvild over Abby, but Jen or Martina, I could see you arguing in favor of Abby.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why did I leave Martina out?
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think Martina is a winner-bust type category.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of going with the safe bet that there's a good chance she might DNF.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: Other athletes who I'm leaving out, Emily Hallgood.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: It feels stupid not to have Emily Hallgood in there,
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: and I probably will regret that,
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: but I could be liable to swap her in instead of Fiona Pascal if I hear more
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: about her injury.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: Other athletes being left out,
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: Riley Brady,
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: would not be surprised to see them in the top 10,
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: but it just feels like they have not figured out Western yet and have
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: a non-trivial chance of DNFing,
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: so I'm trying to pick people who very rarely or almost never DNF.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: Eleni Matarisi and Molly Seidel,
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think,
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: could end up in the top ten,
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: but for both of them is their Western and their 100-Miler debuts,
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: which is a big question mark.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's not unusual.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, last year we had four people who it was their Western debut.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, four of the top ten were Western debutants.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: So right now, the only debutant I have... Ooh.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: is Jen Lichter in the top 10 out of my top 10.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's possible that I should be putting somebody like Molly Seidel or Alaini Madarisi.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: But it also just feels like the bigger reason why I don't have that many is
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: because eight of the top 10 females are returning.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then other ones that aren't returning have already run Western
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: and have proven themselves here.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: Those are my picks for the women's race.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow we're going to preview the men's race.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to have the same categories.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to kind of go in depth and I hope that was helpful.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you guys consume all of the Western States content because it is so exciting and it's my
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrux
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: This was my Western States 2026 Women's Preview.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: I hope it was helpful.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you guys listening,
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: and I look forward to talking to you tomorrow about the men's field.